Name: The Case of Melissa Lucio
Uploaded: 2022-02-09T18:14:58.000Z
Description: Watch the stand-up comedy video 'The Case of Melissa Lucio' from PowerfulJRE on Comedy Buff. Published 2022-02-09. Transcript available.

Watch the stand-up comedy video 'The Case of Melissa Lucio' from PowerfulJRE on Comedy Buff. Published 2022-02-09. Transcript available.

Melissa Lucio is set to be executed in less than 90 days and there is hopefully
forming and will
continue to form enough of a groundswell of support for her. She's been on
death row more
than a decade I think close to 15 years and she's accused of killing her child
and I want to I
want to preface the story of Melissa Lucio by saying if you're inspired by
anything I say and
you want to do anything if you just Google Melissa Lucio and it's L-U-C-I-O and
Innocence Project
right on the landing page of the Innocence Project you will get the information
about how you can
support right now but you know here is someone and this goes back to rebuilding
communities and why
this is so important right this is someone that was born into awful
circumstances history of sexual
abuse that started when she was six years old and finds herself being interrogated
by the police
and why why I reference why it's so important to building communities not that
that's going to cure
all instances of sexual abuse but oftentimes sexual abuse happens in lower
socioeconomic
depressed areas where there isn't the social emotional intelligence that people
it's proliferated
through generations it's not always but she was born into awful circumstances
and not very well off and
she's at the hands of this terrible abuse why I tell that story is with
stronger communities I think we
we get less instances of that but and and many other things but the reason why
I raise that is because
someone that has had past trauma like that is way more susceptible to being
broken down during an
interrogation because they have a certain vulnerability to them so she is the
mother of 12 and is pregnant with twins
and is accused of killing her child um there's no physical evidence of any
abuse
whatsoever and she's interrogated over and over again and you can watch clips
of the interrogation online
and the culmination of this five-hour interrogation was I guess I did it
and you really have to invest in just understanding why people confess the
crimes they didn't commit
this is not an uncommon phenomenon a lot of wrongful incarceration cases start
with a false confession
confession and the false confession is hard for people to understand because
the reaction that it invokes in
folks is that I would never confess to a crime I didn't commit I don't care
what you do to me
I don't care what pressure you put on me that's just a not true and b you have
no idea what it's like
unless you have been through it and the best example is a starting place that I
can give
and we'll get back to Melissa in a minute and I'd like everybody to think about
and really sit through this
emotion you're driving in your car and you hear the sirens and see the lights
go on think about what that feels like
for most people it's a rush of adrenaline it's a raise in your blood pressure
and it's the release
of hormones that you probably know the names of and I don't
even if you weren't speeding didn't run the stops on whatever it is for a minor
traffic violation
so start there when you were having an interaction with law enforcement it is a
stress inducing event
even if it's because you're being pulled over for speeding
there is no one among us that will deny that
now try to put yourself in a windowless room
where on the day
of losing your child
or in the weeks or months following losing your child
you are being accused of doing that
and try to wrap your head around the grief
and the depth of the pain
the spectrum of emotions that comes along with trying to cope with that
and add that to your already existing vulnerabilities
and the psychology that goes into that is very complex
and very well documented and well studied
there's a professor at John Jay College in New York named Saul Kasson
who has done some of the most famous experiments about this
you can read about why people falsely confess
there's tons of great stuff to read about it
but
she was one of the most vulnerable candidates for it
and she finally said I guess I did it
and the way you determine whether or not
somebody is falsely confessing to something
is you start to match
the physical characteristics of the crime
to what they say they did
and if you're not seeing that they match up
it's a strong indication of a false confession
popular example that most people can latch on to is Brendan Dassey
who my dear friend Laura Nyreiter
you know who was in Making a Murderer
and runs this really amazing
social justice organization
for the wrongfully incarcerated
up at Northwestern
and is handling his case
you know Brendan Dassey
you know he was Stephen Avery's nephew
in the Making the Murderer
you know the things that they were getting him to say
didn't match
he was saying okay I did X
but really Y happened
they say no say Y happened
so you start to match the disparity
between what they're confessing to
and what happens to Melissa Lucio
is something similar
they're trying to supply her with details
they're trying to force her to say things
she doesn't know the answers
she's dealing with the enormity of the death of her child
she's pregnant
and she finally says I guess I did it
what are they accusing her
killing her child
of how
I think it was
I think it was manual strangulation
you can read about the case
on the Innocence Project
do they know what the kid actually died from
they know now
and her experts show
that it was not
you have
I don't want to speak about the case
in details
without giving people a chance
to read the details
and decide from themselves
because getting behind something
is not something you should do
because somebody says it on a podcast
I encourage people to do their own research
and frankly I don't know enough about the details
of the nooks and crannies of the case
but I know enough to know that the people that I'm close with
that are working on her case
have done the amount of due diligence
that I would do in way more
and what I do know
is that they had
CP
Child Protective Services records
to go through
that
didn't document a single instance
of physical violence
toward kids
and as a starting point
the statistic on this is staggering
70% of women
that were exonerated
are exonerated
for crimes that never happened
70%
so let me say that again
of the women that have been exonerated
in the United States
for crimes they did not commit
are exonerated of crimes
that never actually occurred
they either turn out to be accidents
suicides
where no crime happened at all
so that's the starting point
you know
I just think that if you go
and read about
her case
and if you were ever like
I want to do something right now
you know
that is something that
the governor's name here
is Governor Abbott
I believe
yes
you know
and a lot of people
lose hope
and
but
you know
when it came to Rodney Reed
and others
you know
things happen
and when there's a groundswell of support
things can happen
and before we go
taking the life
of a mother
of 14 kids
she had to deliver her twins
from in jail
from death row
Jesus
you know
we better be really sure
and she's been in jail for how long
15
14 years
on death row
and you know
before we go
if we have any pause
any pause
at all
we stop
you know
it's interesting
this
this
so go to the
the innocent
if you google
innocence project
and Melissa Lucio
L-U-C-I-O
there is a very specific way
that you can sign on
to a petition
and a very specific way
you can contribute
and learn about her case
and
you know
I deal with this
often
and
this is more
of a question
for you
because
I don't know
the answer
and it's a riddle
I've been trying to solve
for more than 20 years
we like to think
of ourselves
as
as impartial
right
so when
whenever I'm
I'm an alleged expert
in jury selection
that was like my initial
claim to fame
I wrote a book
with a federal judge
called the law of juries
and that was like
the sexiest part
of what I did
right
I was the jury expert
and
when you're picking a jury
you're not really
picking a jury
you're deselecting people
because you don't have
the ability to say
I want
Joe
and Jamie
and Mary
and Cindy
you only have the ability
to say
I don't want Joe
and I don't want Mary
and I don't want Jamie
so it's really
deselecting
and the psychology
behind that is
let me get rid of the people
that I think
are not
in a criminal case
for instance
are not going to
presume my client
innocent
and the great fallacy
of our system
of justice
perhaps the biggest fallacy
is this notion
that we presume
people innocent
until proven guilty
it's something
we like to say
and it's something
that we like to
trot out there
as what makes us
different
from the rest
of the world
and
we say
we're the only
system of justice
it's just not true
if we're honest
with ourselves
the first thing
you think about
when someone
has been
accused of a crime
is that they must have
done it
and now
I don't accept
my own
opinion on it
my firm
there are tons
of independent
studies on it
I had my firm
conduct a study
on it
with thousands
of participants
and close to
90% of people
polled
when they
respond
anonymously
say
if I hear
someone is accused
of a crime
I assume
they are guilty
alright
so there is
no presumption
of innocence
so
my question
is
there have
been
decades
and decades
of lawyers
far more gifted
than I'll ever be
that have tried
to crack this
code
and I can
encourage you
to
you know
serve on juries
and not look
for ways out
I can encourage
you that when
you stare
at the person
sitting in that
seat at the
table
you look
at an
innocent person
and say
that is an
innocent man
or woman
and there
are all sorts
of tricks
and you know
devices of
persuasion
the great
criminal defense
lawyers from
Clarence Darrow
to Ted Wells
to you know
Roy Black
and Barry Sheck
and you know
every great
Jerry Shargel
Jerry Lefcourt
you know
Lisa Wayne
the best criminal
defense lawyers
I know
have tried
you are shrouded
in a blanket
of innocence
and that
that
shroud
does not
fall from
your shoulder
not a bit
unless
until the
government
can tear
it away
from you
and when
you go
back
into
that
room
to
deliberate
you should
walk
through that
door
saying
we are
dealing
with
an
innocent
man
or
woman
unless
and
unless
and until
the
government
can meet
its
burden
of
proof
beyond
reasonable
doubt
but
these
are
just
words
and
the
problem
that
we
have
is
that
if
you
look
at
the
rate
of
conviction
in
most
federal
jurisdictions
across
the
country
it's
over
98%
and
that
can't
be
it
just
can't
be
so
my
question
to
you
is
and
I
don't
know
that
you
know
the
answer
or
I
invite
people
to
sort
of
how
do
you
impress
this
notion
of
the
presumption
of
innocence
because